Lost Song
by Heleana
Summary: In a life spent pursuing duty, will Uhura be able to reclaim her lost song?
1. Prologue

Prologue  
  
The ship floated seemingly gently through space, and Uhura felt the quiet as she had not felt it for a long while. She hummed softly as she watched the stars go past. The last few days had been as hectic as any she had ever known. Problems with equipment erupting all over the ship, a first-contact with a group of aliens who thought the word 'peace' was a derivation of their word for 'ugly'... Uhura almost laughed as she thought of Kirk's face after she had managed to communicate the misunderstanding to him. "They think that I'm saying they're ugly?" he had asked in wonder. Checkov, sitting at his usual console, had muttered under his breath "So what if they think that? I've seen better looking..." What he had seen better looking, Uhura would never know, as a burst of laser fire from the other ship had drowned out the rest of his sentence. It had taken all her negotiation skills to get them to open a channel. And then it had taken an inspired flash of quick talking from the Captain to get them to stop shooting and listen.  
  
But now the crisis was over and Uhura felt... empty. The distance between destinations seemed to weigh upon her, holding her back. Even her music, her sole consolation of many a lonely night, seemed to have dried up, leaving her with only the humming echo of her normally clear voice. She had tried reading, tried not to think about her past, and all she had succeeded in doing was wasting time. Not very much time either. "Lieutenant Uhura," came a frazzled voice over her communicator. Uhura recognised the voice of Anna Stevens, a communications ensign only three years out of the Academy. While Ensign Stevens had been on another ship previously, the system she had been using had been nowhere near as advanced as the one aboard the Enterprise. "Yes Ensign?" responded Uhura crisply. The adrenaline had started pumping through her veins. This could be an emergency. Stevens could have done anything... "Umm... Lieutenant, I'm not sure what this signal means. Would you mind coming up and taking a listen?" Uhura could hear the signal in the background, and knew she could explain it over the link. But still, it wouldn't hurt to go up and check things out. There might be something else up there that needs doing. "I'll be right up," she responded. 


	2. Chapter One Tattoos and memories

Apparently I have to put some disclaimer in here. I own nothing except the skin I was born with, and even then my parents have a stake in that…

Bones stood over the unconscious patient and looked scowlingly at the vital signs displayed on the high-tech board above him. It irked him not to be able to do anything for the man, a free trader the Enterprise had picked up floating dead in space. Lieutenant Uhura had picked up the ship's automated distress beacon and had called the Captain and himself straight away. 

Everything about the rescue had gone completely by the book, no surprises. Bones chuckled, thinking that Kirk had probably despised the entire encounter as being boring, or an unworthy challenge for his highly trained and mostly handpicked crew. But the laugh died on his lips as he looked again at the prone figure on the bed. Only the good Lord himself knew what had been doing that far out from the regular shipping lanes, but he may well have paid for it with his life. As far as Bones could judge, life support in the small merchant vessel had failed a good ten minutes before the Enterprise had reached it. Now, the amount of damage the merchant's all-too-human brain had sustained was beyond McCoy's ability to repair it.

And then there was the problem of the man's pet, a reptilian-looking, cat-sized creature which refused to move from the side of the sick bed and hissed evilly at anyone who attempted to put him somewhere more suitable than a starship sickbay. At one point when the thing had been asleep, McCoy had noticed a type of drawing tattooed onto the underside of it's belly and had pointed it out to Lieutenant Regahkar, one of the science officers aboard who specialised in obscure life forms. 

"Definitely…not…natural…" he had said in the stilted manner of his species. One of the first Rathkilians to join the Federation, he had specifically requested an assignment aboard the Enterprise in order to be exposed to exactly these kind of situations and his face positively glowed a faint bluish light with excitement. 

"I'll…just…take…a…look…." he said, as quickly as he possibly could, and reached down for the creature. In retrospect, Bones supposed he should have tried to stop him, but part of the smooth running of any starship was trust in your fellow crewmates abilities and so… well, it hadn't been too bad. A quick hypospray of anti-venom and a bit of new skin and the much wiser scientist had been good as new. But now they were in the dark, both as to what was so important you would tattoo it to your pet, and also as to what they were going to do with the empty shell the trader had left living when his brain had died. 

"Excuse my interruption Doctor," came a precise tone from the doorway. McCoy looked up from his patient to where the First Officer stood at the entrance to the sickbay. 

"Blast it Spock, don't just stand there. If you want to come in, come in!" 

Despite the antagonism of the Doctor's words, his voice was tired and his eyes showed the strain of his latest sleepless night. Spock took another step forward into the room, and then paused, looking at Bones with something akin to concern. 

"Is everything in order Doctor?" Spock asked. Bones shook his head wearily. His eyes looked down at the merchant, but his gaze seemed to travel past him to something Spock wasn't able to see. 

"These young, energetic men and women just throw themselves haphazardly into space an I'm expected to patch 'em back together again using nothing more than some new-fangled bits of electronic equipment and some good luck," he sighed in frustration and then looked up, "and it burns me up when I can't do it." Spock looked thoughtful, searching for a reply, but McCoy kept going, his Southern accent becoming more pronounced with his sardonic mood. 

 "But you didn't come visit me for that now, did you? What can I help you with Spock?"

The First Officer hesitated, as though unsure whether to speak. 

"I believe…I believe there may be a problem with Lieutenant Uhura."


	3. Chapter Two Can't seem to see the fores...

Can't seem to see the forest for the trees 

_Please insert disclaimer here  And thanks for the reviews everyone! In future I'm going to try and do a chapter per week.  _

"A problem with Uhura?" said James Kirk, looking tolerantly at his two best officers and friends. "I haven't noticed anything. Her work seems fine."

"But there's too much of it," McCoy said heatedly. "It might be all fine and dandy now, but what happens when she burns out? Perhaps in the middle of a crisis?"

"You think she could burn out?" asked the Captain, looking a little more concerned. 

"There is that possibility," said Spock quickly before McCoy could say anything more. The condition of the doctor's patient had deteriorated overnight, causing him to be more snappish than the situation would have warranted. Spock ignored McCoy's glare at him at continued. 

"Lieutenant Uhura has been working almost constantly through her scheduled rest shifts. She has been sending the Ensign she has been training off duty early on a regular basis and then completing the shift herself." 

"About Ensign Stevens," interrupted McCoy quickly, "she's not happy with the situation either. She feels, and I think rightly, that she's getting no experience. Uhura does everything for her. Stevens has been talking about asking to be switched to another assignment."

Kirk nodded as he listened. The Enterprise was one of the most desired and highly contested postings, and it said a lot that the Ensign was willing to swap ships to get out from beneath Uhura's shadow. And looking back, it was true that every time he had been on the Bridge recently Uhura had been there, but Kirk had assumed that showed nothing more than dedication and maybe some coincidence. 

"So I suppose you want me to order her to take a rest break?"

Bones and Spock exchanged a quick look. 

"We've already tried that Jim," said the doctor, "I ordered her off the bridge on medical grounds." Kirk raised an eyebrow at his friend's heavy-handed method. McCoy looked offended. 

"Oh, I took her aside first, naturally. I'm not such a green…"

"The material point is that the Lieutenant followed the exact wording of the order," interrupted Spock, "but did so in such a way as to defeat its purpose. She simply went to her quarters and continued working on the same system modifications she been experimenting with on the bridge."

Kirk frowned, opened his mouth to say something and was interrupted by the beep of the intercom. 

"Go ahead."

"Sir," came the voice of Lieutenant Chekov, "you are needed on the bridge. We have an unidentified vessel approaching."

"With me, Mr. Spock," started the Captain, and then he caught the expression in McCoy's eye. 

"On second thoughts, you go on ahead Spock. I'll be up in a minute." Spock nodded his agreement. As the doors slid shut behind the First Officer, Kirk rounded on the ship's doctor.

"Out with it Bones, and quickly." McCoy nodded curtly, realizing that the Captain wasn't often called to the bridge unnecessarily. 

"There's one more thing, Jim. This may sound foolish, heck, I'm not sure if…my point is, when was the last time you heard Uhura sing?"

Kirk looked puzzled for a second. He knew the Lieutenant had a musical bent, and often sang in the lounge accompanied by other off-duty crew, but couldn't see how it was in the slightest way relevant to their current difficulties. 

"Doctor, we'll have to discuss this later," the Captain said in his best no-nonsense voice. 

"Oh, I know you think I've gone off my head, and maybe I have. Just… something inside tells me it's important."

Kirk looked at him quizzically as he headed out the door. 

"Hearing voices Doctor?"

"Just think about it Jim," McCoy replied tiredly. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Report Mr. Chekov," snapped Kirk efficiently as he strode on the bridge.

"The vessel is approaching along the same bearing as we have been traveling. It is too far away to identify."

Spock turned from his science station to face Kirk.

"Captain, I believe the ship has been tracking our warp coil emissions. They are tracing our previous route exactly."

Kirk's face tensed. 

"Coincidence Mr. Spock?"

"Highly unlikely Captain."

Kirk sighed. He had assumed as much, but it would have been nice to be proved wrong. He turned to the Communications station where Lieutenant Uhura was sitting, dark circles visible under her dulled eyes. 

"Any contact yet?"

"No sir."

Kirk thought for a second. Well, if their mysterious shadow had wanted to go unnoticed, it had failed. He hoped their ship had been designed with stalking rather than fighting in mind. 

"Slow to half impulse Mr. Chekov. Bring us around. Let's get a front on look at what we're facing. Lieutenant Uhura, call Mr. Sulu to the bridge. We'll have a little surprise prepared for our friends when they get here."

 Kirk settled back in his chair and grinned wolfishly. No shadow was going to catch him unprepared. 


End file.
